Yamaha is a well established firm in the Indian two-wheeler segment and it has been 27 years since the Japanese major entered our country. Very rarely it happens that a manufacturer exports a product to its hometown from one of its bases set up in a different country as the same would already be offering top notch products in its own country.

In what is a first in the history of Indian two-wheeler Industry, Yamaha Motor India will be exporting one of its motorcycles to Japan. Yamaha R15 is the motorcycle that the company is going to export to Japan and the first lot of this premium bike will contain 300 units. And if the response is good enough, the company will consider exporting Yamaha FZ-16 too.

Confirming the news, Hiroyaki Suzuki MD, India Yamaha Motor,said

"The motorcycles manufactured in India meet the advanced specification of developed markets and they are produced at a lower cost. We are sending R15 to Japan to test market them in the Japanese market and if the response is good, we may explore more products for export to Japan and other advanced markets."

"Japan is a market for big bikes and racing motorcycles and within that, the 150 cc segment is emerging. Our R15 fits the image; not only is it easy to race and manoeuvre, but it could also be an ideal choice for entry-level racing,” he added.

At present 4,00,000 two-wheelers are sold in Japan annually and with the changing times the market is readily accepting performance bikes. The bike is priced at Rs. 1.15 Lakh INR in the Indian market but in Japan it will bear a price tag of ¥3.42 lakh, or 2.45 lakh INR.

"If the response is good, our next target would be Europe," says Suzuki.

If the response is good, the company will surely look at other global markets as well. Beside Japan the company has also started exploring Portugal, Spain and Turkey to export R15 and FZ in 2013.

The export strategy is not new for the market as established players like Bajaj and TVS export their products to Africa, Latin America and other ASEAN markets. The fact is Yamaha is one of bike makers to send products to developed markets from India.

In the last year, the two-wheeler export business from the country grew by 27.13 % at 1.94 million units with Bajaj being at the top position and Yamaha bagging the fourth spot. We do hope that the R15 does well in Japanese market and strengthen the company’s position.